Shadow of the Sun

Fourth Doctor Adventures special

Released: 12 May 2020

Listened: 4/16/22

This one is slightly unusual. It was recorded in March 2020, the first remote recording Big Finish did because of the pandemic. The intent was to shelve it and release it with series 13. (The Fourth Doctor Adventures are recorded years in advance, at Tom Baker’s request.) However, Big Finish thought it would be a nice gesture to release it early, to help fans cope with lockdown. Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing just how long Covid would last, and that remote recording would become standard procedure. Listening to the extras is almost surreal. Anyway, the story involves a cruise liner rented by a society of spiritualists, on which the TARDIS lands for emergency repairs. Which would be fine, except this particular cult believes there’s a habitable area inside the sun, and intend to prove it by going there. Their leader is a charismatic, but disgraced, scientist, who’s basically dragging everyone else along by force of will. The Doctor has about as much luck as ever talking down insane tyrants. However, he does seem a bit more desperate than usual, and confused by the cult’s behavior. The theme of people ignoring science in favor of their own personal beliefs is pretty clear here, probably hammered a bit too hard, really. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson both sound a bit closer to their actual ages in this story; I don’t know if that’s a result of when it was recorded, or the new recording process, or just my imagination. It was a nice gesture as an early release, but ultimately it’s just OK.